Iraqi Police

PhD student Hemn Merany recalls the Newroz (new year) in 1990, when he was living in Kawergosk concentration camp outside of Erbil after the Iraqi government destroyed Kurdish villages in the area. He was arrested as an eight year-old after lighting tires on fire to celebrate the festival, not knowing what he was doing was strictly forbidden by the Baathist regime.

Journalist Wladimir van Wilgenburg remembers getting lost in Mosul on his way to Syria, just over a week before the Islamic State arrived. He returned to the Syrian border 9 days later and was briefly trapped there as the Islamic State began its attack.